blake



Specification forming part of Letters Patent UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE.

PHILO S BLAKE, ELI W. BLAKE,'AND JNO. A. BLAKE, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

MODE or CONSTRUGTING ons'rnns AND APPLYING THEM TO nnns'rnnns.

No. 821, dated June 30, 1 838; Reissued July 30, 1845,

[Fmsr PRINTED 1914.]

N. BLAKE, and JOHNA. BLAKE, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and Stateof Connecticut, have invented a new anduseful Improvement in the Mode of Constructing Casters and Applying Them to Bedsteads; and we. do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

Our improvement consists chiefly in the adoption of such a mode of constructing and applying casters that the length of the vertical axis (on which the excellence of casters very much depends) may be extended at pleasure without materially enhancing their cost; which is effected in the following manner: We make the roller of the caster of metal or other material in the same manner and form as the rollers of casters heretofore in use. The piece or part which receives the roller, like the corresponding part of casters heretofore in use, consists of two arms, one on each side of the roller, to receive the ends of the axis about which the roller revolves; which arms, running up obliquely, unite together beyond the rim of the roller, and being then rounded and extended upward perpendicularly, constitute the pintle or vertical axis of the caster. This pintle we make 4 inches long and inch diameter at the lower end; and tapering toa 9; inch diameter near the upper end, it terminates in a conical point. The caster thus constructed we apply to the bedstead post in one of the following methods: We bore a hole -3 inch diameter and nearly linches. deep into the center of the post. We then insert into this hole an instrument which cuts outa conical cavity in the wood at the bottom of the hole; the base of said cavity being nearly or quite equal to the diameter of the hole, and the angle of its vertex somewhat more obtuse than that of the conical point of the pintle. The pintle being then inserted, if the hole is of the proper depth, the weight of the bedstead will come wholly upon the point of the pintle, while the conical cavity in which it stands will maintain the coincidence of its axis with that of the post, in opposition to the lateral strain. This method is believed to be suflicient where the post is of hardwood as is usually the case;

.or secondly; we bore the hole which is to receive the pintle a of an inch deeper than above specified, and insert a cylinder of cast iron or other metal of an inch long, having a conical cavity in its lower or outer.

end, and being a little larger in diameter Y than the hole, so that it may be firmly held by the wood when driven to the bottom of J the hole; thus giving a metallic bearing to addition to the metallic bearing for the upper end of the pintle as just described, we make a metallic one for the lower end also, by simply bushing the lower end of the hole to the depth of half of an inch. This bush" sion of the wood. If the wood of the post be very hard the hole. may require .to be slightly enlarged at its outer extremity in order to receive the bush; or fourthly, we propose to'dispense with the upper metallic bearing, retaining only the lower one, as on further experience we may find advisable.

Casters applied in either of these methods may be instantly taken 013? and replaced at pleasure,which we esteem tobe an advantage, especially in putting up and. taking down the bedstead. If however it should the upper end of the pintle; or thirdly; in

be preferred to have them fastened in, this may be effected in several ways, The pintle instead of terminating in a conical point, may terminate in a wire or pivot running up through a hole in the upper metallic bearing and secured there by a collet over which it is riveted. Or the pintle may be encircled by a small flange near its lower extremity, and a piece of sheet iron, fastened to the bottom of the post, may reach under this flange. Or the flange may be located on the pintle above the bush which makes the lower metallic bearing, and this bush may be made in two semicircular pieces, which when put together embrace the pintle below the flange, and both may be introduced together into the hole in the post.

The caster constructed and applied as above described, differs from other casters ing essential and characteristic -par'ticulars',* which, as applied to casters,'we claim re spectively as our invention and desire to' secure by Letters Patent 1. In that the upper and lower bearings of the vertical axis, being distinct pieces, are both or either of them inserted or supported separately in a hole bored in the post or leg to receive that axis; the leg itself being relied upon to hold them respectivelyintheir proper position in relation to each other, or to the axis. g

2. In that the upper end of the vertical axis sustains the weight of the bedstead in the manner and under the circumstances as follows; to wit, by bearing either directly upon the wood at the bottom ofa hole bored in the leg to receive that axis, or upon a dis- 7 In that th'e'upper' end'ofthe vertical axis receives the weight of the bedstead and at the same time controlled or governed 1n opposition to the lateral strain, in the manner and under the circumstances f0llowing; to wit, by being formed into'a conical point and inserted into a conical cavity in the wood at the bottom-of a hole bored'in the leg to receivethat axis, or into a similar PHiLos BLAKE. ELI w. BLAKE. JOHN A. BLAKE.

Witnesses:

HENRY IVES, HENRY MUNsoN. 

